JHBuild is a tool that allows you to automatically download and compile "modules" (i.e. source code packages). It can pull modules from a variety of sources (CVS, Subversion, Git, Bazaar, tarballs...) and handle dependencies. You can also choose which specific modules you want to build, instead of building the whole project.

JHBuild is a tool that allows you to automatically download and compile "modules" (i.e. source code packages). It can pull modules from a variety of sources (CVS, Subversion, Git, Bazaar, tarballs...) and handle dependencies. You can also choose which specific modules you want to build, instead of building the whole project.

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===Python issues===

===Python issues===

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Projects which use ''Python 2'' may present building errors, because they will refer to paths like {{ic|/usr/bin/python}}, which points to ''Python 3'' on Arch. Namely, building [[GNOME]] under default configuration may cause this error.

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{{Note|Users of the {{AUR|jhbuild}} package should not encounter Python-related issues; if you do, please add a comment describing your issue to the {{AUR|jhbuild}} page.}}

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Projects which use ''Python 2'' may encounter errors when building, because they refer to paths like {{ic|/usr/bin/python}}, which points to ''Python 3'' on Arch. Building [[GNOME]] with a default configuration may cause this error.

To fix this issue, you can point the correct ''Python 2'' path to JHBuild by appending the following to {{ic|~/.jhbuildrc}}:

To fix this issue, you can point the correct ''Python 2'' path to JHBuild by appending the following to {{ic|~/.jhbuildrc}}:

If you have a malformatted .pc file on your PKG_CONFIG_PATH, JHBuild won't be able to detect all the (valid) .pc files you have installed and will complain that the .pc files are missing. Look at the output of {{ic|jhbuild sysdeps}}—there should be a message about the problematic .pc files.

==External links==

==External links==

[http://developer.gnome.org/jhbuild/ GNOME JHBuild Manual]

[http://developer.gnome.org/jhbuild/ GNOME JHBuild Manual]

Revision as of 10:05, 1 February 2013

JHBuild is a tool that allows you to automatically download and compile "modules" (i.e. source code packages). It can pull modules from a variety of sources (CVS, Subversion, Git, Bazaar, tarballs...) and handle dependencies. You can also choose which specific modules you want to build, instead of building the whole project.

JHBuild was originally written for building GNOME, but has since been extended to be usable with other projects.

Installation

Configuration

The configuration file for JHBuild is ~/.jhbuildrc. It uses Python syntax to set configuration variables. Here is the sample file provided for building GNOME:

# -*- mode: python -*-
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# edit this file to match your settings and copy it to ~/.jhbuildrc
# if you have a GNOME git account, uncomment this line
# repos['git.gnome.org'] = 'ssh://user@git.gnome.org/git/'
# what module set should be used. The default can be found in
# jhbuild/defaults.jhbuildrc, but can be any file in the modulesets directory
# or a URL of a module set file on a web server.
# moduleset = 'gnome-apps-3.2'
#
# A list of the modules to build. Defaults to the GNOME core and tested apps.
# modules = [ 'meta-gnome-core', 'meta-gnome-apps-tested' ]
# Or to build the old GNOME 2.32:
# moduleset = 'gnome2/gnome-2.32'
# modules = ['meta-gnome-desktop']
# what directory should the source be checked out to?
checkoutroot = os.path.expanduser('~/checkout/gnome')
# the prefix to configure/install modules to (must have write access)
prefix = '/opt/gnome'
# custom CFLAGS / environment pieces for the build
# os.environ['CFLAGS'] = '-Wall -g -O0'
# extra arguments to pass to all autogen.sh scripts
# to speed up builds of GNOME, try '--disable-static --disable-gtk-doc'
#autogenargs=
# On multiprocessor systems setting makeargs to '-j2' may improve compilation
# time. Be aware that not all modules compile correctly with '-j2'.
# Set makeargs to 'V=1' for verbose build output.
#makeargs = '-j2'

You should edit at least modules to the desired modules to be built. A reference for most configuration variables is available at GNOME JHBuild Manual.

Usage

Installing Prerequisites

JHBuild can check if the required tools are installed by running sanitycheck:

$ jhbuild sanitycheck

If any errors are shown, missing packages may be installed from repositories or running the bootstrap command, which tries to download, build and install the build prerequisites:

$ jhbuild bootstrap

Building

To build all the modules selected in the configuration file, just run the build command:

$ jhbuild build

JHBuild will download, configure, compile and install each of the modules.

If an error occurs at any stage, JHBuild will present a menu asking what to do. The choices include dropping to a shell to fix the error, rerunning the build from various stages, giving up on the module, or ignore the error and continue. Often, dropping to a shell and checking makefiles and configuration files can be helpful. If you face a build error, for example, you can try to manually make and check errors on the shell.

Giving up on a module will cause any modules depending on it to fail.

Troubleshooting

Python issues

Note: Users of the jhbuildAUR package should not encounter Python-related issues; if you do, please add a comment describing your issue to the jhbuildAUR page.

Projects which use Python 2 may encounter errors when building, because they refer to paths like /usr/bin/python, which points to Python 3 on Arch. Building GNOME with a default configuration may cause this error.

To fix this issue, you can point the correct Python 2 path to JHBuild by appending the following to ~/.jhbuildrc:

autogenargs='PYTHON=/usr/bin/python2'

Packages will then be configured to use Python 2 instead of Python 3.

If you are building from scratch on your own, it may be necessary to run autogen.sh with the following:

PYTHON=/usr/bin/python2 ./autogen.sh

It was also necessary for me to update the shebang line in ~/.local/bin/jhbuild

#!/usr/bin/python2

Once that is finished, run

jhbuild sanitycheck

That will tell you what dependencies you need. In my case, I had to:

pacman -S docbook-xsl
pacman -S cvs

I had to switch the symlink "/usr/bin/python" to point to python2.7 to get "jhbuild build" to run correctly. If there is a better way to do this,
please update this to reflect that. It was difficult for me to track down Arch Users that had built jhbuild from scratch so I figure these
notes are better than none and may save some time. The folks in #gnome-shell on irc.gnome.org will help in any way they can.

pkg-config issues

If you have a malformatted .pc file on your PKG_CONFIG_PATH, JHBuild won't be able to detect all the (valid) .pc files you have installed and will complain that the .pc files are missing. Look at the output of jhbuild sysdeps—there should be a message about the problematic .pc files.